What can I do in PTO meeting?

Who should I take to accompany me to a hostile HOA meeting with a 911-happy Hostess?

• Relations in our HOA have descended to ridiculously low levels whereby we are considering disbanding the HOA entirely which will take time, lawyers, and process. But until then, we have a need for meetings but a couple of dishonest officers refuse to have them on neutral grounds. That is, they insist the meeting be in their home where they can call 911 and claim trespassing on a Co-Owner if that Co-Owner disagrees with the way they are running the meeting. We have Bylaws for this and a prescribed Agenda which these officers won't follow because they will be held accountable for things they're not doing and they don't want to be held accountable. To speak up and object is to invite their claim you are being "disruptive" so they call the police, as if that were ever the right thing to do in what is supposed to just be a business meeting. It is not the right thing to do, it has never been called for, but it's a PLOY they use to get what they want and thus far, no-one has stood up to them, but we are trying to now. But these are small town minds with inflated egos, little regard for laws or rules, and no sense of propriety when it comes to business. So we are dealing with emotionally and socially messed-up people who can be dangerous when they push the panic button and involve cops for no valid reason, and do so just because they don't want to be shown up as doing something wrong or against the Bylaws. We have a difficult and stressful meeting coming up whereby two or three of the Officers need to be assessed for charges they didn't have approval to incur, so they will resist with all they've got and may try calling the police again. The meeting is in an Officer's home (one of the guilty parties) and while we are trying to get the venue changed, that's proving difficult getting everyone to agree. So if we have no choice but to attend in the Officer's home, who should we take with us for "protective assistance?" The alternative is to just abandon the meeting and leave if 911 is called, but that's what the Officer WANTS us to do so they can take a vote without our input. An attorney will charge big bucks to attend with us. Possibly an off-duty cop might be reasonably priced. Possibly a body-guard but those could be expensive too. Would a paralegal make sense? We hired a consultant to attend last time as our proxy which cost several hundred dollars and the consultant was not well-enough informed to take a stand in several key areas. We can't afford to spend several hundred dollars each time there is a meeting, so we are looking for some friendly or cost-effective support if we can find it. I'm looking for someone to watch my backside at this meeting and hopefully ward off any attack by one or two of these officers who can be like junkyard dogs if cornered. We are working on getting the officers ousted but that will take time and they won't go down without a fight, pulling every nasty trick they can, even if it means calling 911 frivolously. Unfortunately, the police next door accomodate those kinds of frivolous calls which is also questionable but we can't do anything about that immediately. The attendant going with us to the meeting may need to be a witness and to go to court later with us if needed to defend for a bogus trespassing charge. HOAs can be really nasty. Share your HOA story if you have one, but I'm primarily looking for ideas on who to take to the meeting for protective/defensive assistance without spending a lot of money. Your idea?

• Answer:

  You would need to read your bylaws to figure who can attend. I have never heard of a HOA that allowed anyone other then owners to attend meetings. Personally if I were a member (I have been in them in the past) I would strongly object to any outsiders interfering at all. The meeting should be in a country club or maybe a hotel meeting room though if there are people violent enough that the police need to be called. One homeowner should not have to carry the burden of having those kind of people inside their home.